Factbox: Indian firms resume Bangladesh operations after protest disruptions

Pearl Global Industries

09/08/2024 09:10

BENGALURU, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Indian companies are slowly
resuming normal operations in neighbouring Bangladesh following
disruption linked to deadly anti-government protests that forced
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.
        Here are some details of what Indian companies have said
about their activities in Bangladesh, where many products made
by India-based firms are household names:
    
    LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA  LIFI.NS  (LIC)
    LIC of Bangladesh partially resumed operations in the
country from Aug. 8, when Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus
took charge of Bangladesh's caretaker government, after closing
its offices for three days.
    It has 13 offices in the country and sold nearly 4,500
policies in the financial year ended March 2024.
    The unit of the Indian government-backed LIC, however, said
the situation had "still not reached the stage of normalcy" and
"may continue to hamper the operations".
    
    PEARL GLOBAL INDUSTRIES  PGIL.NS 
    The Indian garment maker, which supplies to global brands
including GAP, Macy's and Ralph Lauren, said its factories
resumed operations on Aug. 7 with "normal 97%+" staff
attendance, after two days of a curfew-mandated shutdown.
    It said it was operating 70% of its facilities at full
capacity and would resume operations at the rest when it felt
more confident about the security of its workers in certain
parts of Bangladesh.
    It has four plants in the capital, Dhaka, and Gazipur where
it manufactures hoodies, tracksuit pants and other items.
       
    MARICO  MRCO.NS 
    The consumer goods maker, which sells its Parachute brand of
hair oil and Saffola cooking oil in Bangladesh, said on Aug. 7 a
majority of its retail sales force and distributors had resumed
their work. It expected manufacturing to follow suit soon.
    Marico, however, said it remained watchful of the situation
and was prioritising the safety of its employees, factory
workers and distributors.
    The company earned 44% of its international revenues of
25.10 billion Indian rupees ($299 million) from Bangladesh in
the fiscal year ended March 2024, and has a distribution network
of more than 770,000 outlets in the country.
($1 = 83.9250 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru;
Editing by Helen Popper)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))